India's shipping ministry has prepared plans to allow bulk cargo owners to take terminal concessions at the country's major ports as part of attempts to improved their efficiency.
A draft has been released of a captive user policy, which would allow ports-based companies, infrastructure companies or major exporters equally reliant on ports, to approach major ports with the idea of developing dedicated terminals.
Initial guidelines as to how the policy would work envisage shippers proposing a projects to a port which would be built on the basis of a 30-year build-operate-transfer concession, with the port authority also mandated to invite expressions of interest from other groups.
If a bidding round is launched, selections will be based on a minimum guaranteed throughput which is not to be less than 50% of the operation capacity of the terminal, resulting in the highest quoted revenue from the project. The policy envisages construction costs to be entirely borne by the developer.